


Cavalry

by Geonn



Category: Sanctuary (TV)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Drama, F/F, First Kiss
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-20
Updated: 2017-02-20
Packaged: 2018-09-25 21:45:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,412
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9846959
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Geonn/pseuds/Geonn
Summary: Kate runs into trouble on a solo mission and Helen, realizing the trouble is her fault, rushes her to rescue.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Trialia](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Trialia/gifts).



> This is an oldie but a goodie was never transferred over when I started posting to AO3, so I thought I'd beef up the pairing's numbers a little.

Kate rested her head against the stone wall and closed her eyes. Unbidden, her mind cast back to the scene three days ago in the Doc's office. _"You've had a hard few weeks,"_ she'd said. _"What with the ordeal with the suit, and everything that happened in India, you deserve some time off. I can have the Athens Sanctuary send someone."_ She chuckled at the memory. Oh, if she'd only just put aside her pride and agreed to sit out for another few days. She wiped her hand across her face, relieved to see that the liquid trickling down her cheek was just sweat. 

She twisted around the corner to see if her pursuer had tracked her down yet. The stone corridor was part of a building that was hit by some bombing or another, and she could see the moonlight provided enough light to see that she was still alone. The night was freezing, and the moonlight reflected off the fog to make everything look blue-white. She rolled her shoulders, checked the charge on her stunner, and pushed away from the wall. Just because she was safe for the moment didn't mean she could stop moving.

#

Helen squinted as the cargo door of the plane opened. The wind was so strong that it seemed like a solid object, waves of an ocean that dared her to try diving into it. Viktor turned to face her and shouted to be heard over the gale. He could speak English, but with an accent so thick it rendered him incomprehensible under the best circumstances, so he spoke Serbian. "Many have died attempting this foolishness, you know!"

Helen pulled her goggles down, the fur-lined hood of her jacket keeping her hair mostly in place. A few strands had slipped free and whipped around her face like snakes. Below her, the foothills of the Dinarides gave way to a fog-covered plain. Evergreens rose from the cover like tips of arrows. "If I retreated just because something was ill-advised, I'd have missed half the greatest moments in my life," Helen replied, also in Serbian and also shouted.

Viktor smiled wide enough to reveal the fangs hidden behind his incisors. He checked their altitude and position and held his hand up, prepared to give her the signal. 

Despite her bravado, there was nothing casual about jumping from an airplane. She steadied herself, made a mental checklist of everything that could go wrong and prepared contingencies. The message the Sanctuary had intercepted from Kate had been brief and it cut out before she finished speaking, but the tone was unmistakable. Danger. Back-up. Immediately. Everyone else was occupied with other side missions of their own, and Tesla could go a few days without a babysitter if absolutely necessary. A member of her team was in trouble and she had to do everything in her power to help.

" _Srećno_!" Viktor said.

"Hopefully luck won't be necessary," Helen said. He dropped his hand, and Helen stepped forward. The reassuringly solid floor of the plane's bay fell away and she went into a freefall. 

#

Kate followed the wheel ruts down the alley, dry leaves crackling under her boots. She stopped at the street, crouching to listen for any sounds that would tell her she'd been spotted. She was at the edge of town and the urge to just make a run for it was nearly overwhelming. Her palms were sweaty underneath her fingerless gloves, but she didn't take the time to pull them off and stick them into her pocket. She twisted to look over her shoulder and thought she saw something move from one side of the alley to the other.

She couldn't fire without giving away her position, but if it really was something sneaking up on her... Her only option was to move. She rose out of her crouch and ran onto the street, unavoidably exposed as she ran toward the last building on the street. It looked as if it had been spared damage from any bombings, and hopefully that would provide her a good amount of security. 

It looked like a farmhouse; it was a long, squat building of gray-brown stones that stood on its own wide acre. The front of the building was larger than the rest, like a slice of bread pressed against the side of a smaller loaf. A tower stood at the northern side of the building, partially destroyed by a bomb blast that exposed the stairs to the night air. The windows were all empty, and the door was hanging from a single hinge. 

Kate made sure not to knock the door further askew as she slipped into the darkness. She risked shining her flashlight around the room to get her bearings and then stowed the light in her pack. She checked her watch and saw that it had been eight hours since she'd called the Sanctuary for help. Assuming someone had grabbed a jet and flown as fast as they could, odds were that she had at least another hour to wait. 

She heard something crash across town, the clatter of ancient stone crumbling to the ground, and hoped she had the time to spare.

#

Helen made a mental note to have a conversation with Viktor about what constituted an acceptable landing zone. The wind tore at her body, and she used her arms to relax the tension in her lines as another gust threatened to toss her about like a leaf. Her feet touched the ground and another gust rose along the incline of the hill like a wave building on the ocean. Helen pulled her cutaway handle, and the canopy billowed behind her as the wind hit it like a fist. She watched as the parachute was quickly carried away, picturing herself dangling helplessly from the end as she was dragged across rocks and trees.

"Damn it, Viktor," she muttered. "I suppose you did warn me."

She took off her goggles and regained her bearings. The wind was blowing north to south, and the village where Kate had sent her message was due east. She took the radio from her pack and turned it on, wincing at the initial burst of static. "Kate, come in. Kate, do you read?" She turned and scanned the valley. She checked her compass again, gave Kate another few seconds to respond to her call, and then she began walking.

#

Kate rested her eyes. Once she was out of the wind, the cold was actually bearable. She kept her weapon close by, under her hand where she could immediately bring it up and open fire if necessary. It was supposed to be a simple mission; a cakewalk to help her ease back into the job of retrievals. Everyone needed a break after what happened in India, but leisure time had been a luxury they couldn't afford. So they sallied forth, and things just kept piling on. She smiled when she thought of this mission as a vacation. She'd had more relaxing vacations in Roseland, back when she lived in Chicago. 

Just a snake terrorizing citizens of a small village in Serbia. Sure, it was a huge snake. But she had her stunner and she had a net. She figured she would be in and out in a day or two, depending on how long it took her to find the snake's nest. Best laid plans and all that. The locals had been glad to see her, but they all became a little more hopeless when they saw she was alone. " _Don't worry about it. We do this sort of thing all the time._ "

She heard a sound outside and her eyes snapped open. Her fingers tightened around the butt of her gun, and she scrambled to the window on her hands and knees. The street was still deserted, save for some leaves and garbage detritus. The fog became trapped in air currents off the maze of alleys and side streets and swirled like a living being between the buildings. Kate had managed to lure the Abnormal here, thus saving the people of the village from getting caught in the crossfire, but that meant she was trapped. And she was the only prey available.

She was exhausted. She'd been going nonstop since she realized the true nature of what she'd been sent to capture. Part of her hoped that rescue was only a few minutes away. Her mind had to believe that she was near the end of this particular marathon or it would shut down entirely. She was a long way from Montreal, the too-tough hustler who'd pull a gun on anyone who thought she was easy prey. She'd gone from a medium-sized fish in a pretty big pond to a minnow in the ocean. 

Still, it was better than anything she thought she would be doing in this life. If she hadn't run into Magnus, she would probably be a statistic. Just another body left behind in Druitt and Tesla's Cabal slaughter, or someone who had been cut loose and sent to drift when the Cabal was dismantled. Either way, she wouldn't be hiding in an abandoned building being hunted by--

Her eyes snapped open and she realized she'd fallen asleep. There was a noise in the building. She tightened her grip on her gun and swept it across the room. It was too dark to see. She could have used the flashlight, but that would give away her position. Assuming it wasn't already given away. She swallowed hard and tensed her finger on the trigger. She was craving a drink, but she didn't want to risk letting go of her weapon to take a sip, not until she was sure the danger was in her head.

The noise came again, from right beside her, and her shout of fear died in her throat. It was a burst of static from her radio. She relaxed, steadied herself, and grabbed the radio off her belt. She hit the button twice, sending back two bursts of static to whoever was trying to get in touch with her. Then she brought the radio to her mouth and whispered, "This is Kate; who's there?"

"It's me," Helen replied. "I spoke to the village elder in Belouška and they told me you'd headed into the hills."

"Yeah. Magnus... you need to be careful..."

"I know," Helen interrupted. "I did a bit of research on the flight over. Kate, I am so sorry. If I had any idea what I was sending you to--"

"Don't sweat it, Doc," Kate said. "I just hope you brought a big-ass net for this thing."

"Big enough. Where are you?"

Kate moved away from the window so her voice wouldn't carry. "I'm in a ghost town about five miles outside of the village where they had the sighting. I was hoping it would follow me, and I got my wish. Unfortunately."

"I'm nearby. I'll be there soon; stay out of sight until I get there."

"No problem there," Kate said. She dropped the radio back to her lap and went to the door of her hiding place. There was a sound, a sharp hiss that sounded like it was being issued through a megaphone. She winced, but remained in the doorway since the sound was closer to the center of town. She looked down at her stunner and, not for the first time, wished she had brought something with a little more firepower.

#

Helen borrowed a motorcycle from a villager and reached the ghost town in minutes. She had her pack slung over her shoulder, the weapons bumping against her back when she went over bumps and potholes. When she arrived at the edge of town, she parked the bike next to a falling-down fence. She removed her goggles and scanned the town; the bell tower of a church rose from the fog in the center of the town, giving her a landmark. Somewhere in the city she heard a sound like a car crash, and then the high-pitched whistle of a massive teapot.

She took her radio out and sent two bursts of static. A second later, Kate replied. "Yo, Doc."

"I'm on the northern side of town, a few blocks from the church."

There was a pause and she knew that Kate was trying to get her bearings. Helen looked at the steeple and said, "The north side of the steeple is missing half the shingles. There frame of the bell tower window is missing." 

"Okay, I'm east, then. East side of town, in a long and low building with a red roof. There's a slab on the front, and it's on a little yard of its own surrounded by a white fence."

"I'll find you," Helen said, and started walking.

"Hey, Doc."

"I'm here."

"Be careful, all right? This thing doesn't give you much warning."

"I'll be on my guard."

She hooked the radio on her belt, under her coat, and swung the bag around so she could remove what she needed. It was a Winchester with the elongated handle of a rifle, with an added chamber attached under the barrel. Henry had cobbled it together out of pieces in the armory, and she'd never had a chance to use it in the field. Hopefully today it would prove useful. She checked to make sure it was loaded before she closed the bag and went into town.

Occasionally, she felt the ground tremble under her feet and she took cover near the side of a building until the shaking stopped. The hissing-whistle came a few more times, and she realized that the Abnormal was circling the town. Soon there wouldn't be anyplace left to hide. She moved faster, her gun at the ready, and spotted the building Kate described when she turned a corner.

There was a section of fence that had fallen, and Helen stepped over it to enter the yard. She whistled twice, signaling to Kate that she was there, and scanned the streets around the building for signs she had been spotted. An answering whistle came from within the structure, and Helen slipped inside when she found the door.

"Hey, Magnus. Welcome to Serbia. Next time you ask if I want to visit Europe, think Paris."

Helen smiled and said, "Are you all right?"

"Fine. Exhausted." Her voice broke on the last syllable, and she surprised herself by tearing up. "Sorry."

Helen stepped forward and put her hand on Kate's shoulder. "You've been running yourself haggard lately. A little emotion is to be expected. I'm sorry I didn't follow through on the research of this Abnormal before I sent you off. If I'd just noticed how near we are to Greece, perhaps I would have realized--"

"No," Kate said. "It's not your fault. I wanted to show you that I was fine. That I could handle a solo assignment. Guess I blew that."

"I would never have sent anyone on this mission alone had I known all the facts. I'm simply too distracted by that damnable map." She guided Kate across the room and took off her jacket. She folded it in half and gestured for Kate to sit with her back against the wall. When she complied, Helen placed the coat behind her head as a pillow. "I'll keep watch. It'll be light in a few hours; hopefully it will be easier to evade when the fog lifts."

"Sorry to drag you away from the map, Magnus," Kate said, already drifting off. Her eyes were closed, her words becoming quieter the longer she spoke.

Helen stroked Kate's hair. "My team is more important than any map. Rest now." When Kate was asleep, Helen stood and went back to the window. The town was deceptively silent, the sharp edges of the surrounding buildings softened by the thick fog. Helen rested her shoulder against the wall, the adrenaline of her frantic rush across the globe wearing off and leaving her exhausted. The jet ride had been a blur, and Viktor's plane was barely a blip in her memory. It felt as if she'd left the library and had arrived here in the blink of an eye instead of eleven hours.

She couldn't let the map distract her from the important things, like the running of the Sanctuary. Like making sure she wasn't sending one of her people into a death trap. She closed her eyes and squeezed the bridge of her nose. She was going to have to take a step back and reassess her priorities once she was back at the Sanctuary.

For now, she needed to keep quiet and make sure Kate got at least a few hours of sleep before they made their escape. She settled in, prepared to spend the rest of the evening on watch.

#

It was Kate's habit, upon waking in a strange place, to take a moment to regain her bearings before she moved. She was sitting against a wall, and the air was filled with dust and smoke. She was covered with something and she opened her eyes to see what it was. She recognized the familiar long jacket, and she looked across the room to where its owner was sitting by the window. Helen was wearing a long-sleeved brown blouse, a scarf around her throat to keep the cool air from blowing down her collar. Kate sat up straighter, and the folded coat - also Helen's - fell away from the wall.

Helen turned to face her and said, "There you are. How did you sleep?"

"Better than some nights," Kate said. She lifted Helen's coat and carried it across the room. She handed it back and peered outside. The day seemed brighter, but the fog was still keeping most of the sunlight from reaching the ground. "What time is it?"

Helen slipped back into her jacket. "Nearly seven. The sun should be rising about now. I think this is our best chance to make a run for the outside of town."

"Well, what about the mission? We can't just leave this thing roaming around waiting for its next snack."

"We won't," Helen said. "I contacted the Athens Sanctuary last night when I arrived. They'll send a team, but they won't get here until later this afternoon. The safest thing to do is leave town now and set up a perimeter until Cryssa can send reinforcements."

Kate didn't like the idea of running away, but she couldn't think of a better plan. Having an entire containment team on the way was such an appealing idea that she had to resist the urge to whoop with delight. "All right," she said. "I'm ready to make a break for it whenever you are."

"I've been monitoring its movements," Helen said. "I think it's making a circuit, and it will pass us again in approximately three minutes. Once it's gone by, we'll have approximately eight minutes before it comes back this way again. Ample time to reach the bike and get to safety."

"I'll follow your lead, boss."

Helen nodded and checked the load on her weapon again. She moved her bag closer to Kate and unzipped it. "We should probably arm ourselves as properly as possible." She removed a long sword with a leaf-shaped blade. She propped it against the wall for herself and handed Kate an equally large machete. "Not quite a nine-millimeter, but it'll do in a pinch."

Kate wrapped her fingers around the hilt and tested the weight. "Oh, yeah. I can do some damage with this. What's that one?"

"African sword called an Ida," Helen said. "Double-edged, ideal for cutting and hacking."

Kate smiled. "Just what the Doc ordered."

Helen returned her smile and zipped the bag closed. She slipped the strap over her head and onto her left shoulder, letting the bag rest against her right hip. She checked her watch again and, as if on cue, the ground began to shake.

"Here he comes," Kate muttered.

Helen nodded and picked up the Ida. They both watched the street as the quiet rumble passed, the tiny pebbles resting on the street vibrating as if they were trying to come to life. Kate half-expected to see a mound of dirt following the Abnormal's progress, like Bugs Bunny in those 'left turn at Albuquerque' cartoons, but the ground remained smooth until the rattling subsided.

"I think this is our best opportunity," Helen said. She had her gun in her left hand, the Ida in the other. She stood and led the way back to the door, pausing before she stepped outside. The fog was finally beginning to lift, the buildings looking sharper and more real in the growing light of day. Helen gestured with her sword in the direction they would have to take, and Kate nodded before they moved.

They had only managed to travel two blocks before Kate felt the ground trembling beneath her boots. "Tell me that's an earthquake."

"I don't think we'll be that lucky," Helen said. She turned to look back toward the place they'd spent the night, but it was much too far to attempt returning. She pointed at the building they happened to be in front of. "There, the windowsills on the ground floor." The glass was missing, and Helen and Kate ran to take cover. Helen had just stepped onto the brick ledge of the windowsill when the ground behind her erupted. 

It looked like a solid wall of scaled flesh; the glistening skin was black, dark green and brown in shifting tones that would allow the beast a certain amount of camouflage in the forest. The dirt fell away from its body as the diamond-shaped head rolled until it spotted Helen. It lashed forward with a sibilant hiss, lunging even as Helen shoved Kate to safety inside the building. The head followed her, the window just barely wide enough for it to pass through. Helen ducked to the right, pulling Kate with her and out of the snake's path. 

When Kate was out of the way, Helen swung the Ida with a shout. It tore through the reptile's flesh, filling the suddenly-full room with a nauseating odor. The beast howled and tried to twist back to bite Helen, but the room was too cramped for maneuvering. Kate looked behind them and found a door that led to the next building. "Doc!" she said. Helen looked, nodded, and they retreated as the snake tried to withdraw its head from the room.

They ran through the neighboring building and back out onto the street. The Abnormal was still trying to pull its head out of the building where they'd left it, but that was the least of their problems. Two more heads had risen from the original hole, and one of them spotted the women as they stepped out onto the stone sidewalk. It hissed, and the second head swung around to focus on them as well.

"See why it's useful to be told you'll be up against a hydra?"

"I said I was sorry," Helen said. "I was working with faulty information and I assumed it would be a single snake storing up food for the winter. It would appear I was wrong."

She brought her gun up and, taking less than a second to aim, fired twice. The first bullet hit the first head just beneath the jaw. It reared back as the second bullet hit a few inches higher. The second head swung like a pendulum to avoid the shots, and its neck arched as it prepared to strike. Kate fired at it, and her bullets hit the snake in the head. The heads twisted and sank like released kite strings. The original head finally got free of the building, dripping blood from the wound Helen had inflicted, and hissed at them. Its jaw unhinged and revealed pink muscles and venom packs where the jawbones met. It had two curved fangs in the top of its jaw, larger than Helen's sword and twice as dangerous. Even in the meager light, the teeth glistened with venom.

Kate and Helen both fired and hit the snake in the soft part of the mouth. "Run," Helen said as the head they'd shot also sagged to the ground. 

There was another hiss, and the ground shook as two more heads erupted from underground. Kate jumped to one side, barely avoiding the second head, and she turned to see that she had been separated from Helen. "Damn," she said. She looked up at the two towers of reptilian flesh rising from the street and she tightened her grip on the leather hilt of her sword. She wasn't much of a knife fighter, but she could make it work in a pinch.

The nearer head had seen her, or heard her, and it dropped down with its mouth open as if expecting to swallow her whole. Kate held her arm straight over her head and opened fire with her gun as she swung her machete at the snake's body. Her bullets hit the snake in the head while her blade sliced through its body. She heard another shout from Helen without concern; Helen tended to make noise when she was on the attack. 

The head Kate had attacked, gunshot and sliced, fell dead to the ground. Kate spun on her heel, ignoring the gore dripping from the machete's blade, and moved to help Helen. "Doc?"

"Sorted," Helen said as she pulled her own sword from the other snake. The bodies seemed to sink into the ground, but Kate knew it was just the main body shifting its position for another angle of attack. She hoped dragging five lifeless limbs would slow it down, but that wasn't very likely given the way her luck was running.

"He's regrouping, but we don't have long." She looked longingly toward the edge of town and their escape. "I don't think we have the luxury of sitting back and waiting any longer. How many heads does the creature have?"

"I have no idea. I thought I only saw four or five, but I wasn't exactly stopping to count."

Helen nodded. "Okay. The mythological Hydra had nine heads." What she didn't say, but Kate knew, was that it also grew two heads for each one that was cut off. Of course they hadn't technically cut off any of the heads yet. "We'll have to assume there are at least that many, so we have four left to deal with."

"So we're not bothering with the 'capture alive' possibility anymore?"

"Unfortunately, that's another luxury we can't afford. What are you thinking?"

Kate nodded toward the center of town and said, "I think we need to get him to show us all his cards." 

Helen followed Kate's line of sight and smiled. 

#

Kate took the bag with their supplies and went off to set up their trap. Helen remained where the attack had occurred, moving between the craters left behind by the retracted heads. She had found a tattered curtain and used it to clean her blade, and she'd reloaded her gun. She was loaded for bear, or snake as it were, and she could feel the ground trembling under her feet as the hydra came back for another attack.

"C'mon," Helen muttered. "Come and get your snack."

The ground erupted behind her, and Helen ducked as she was sprayed with dirt and rocks. She twisted at the waist and fired twice, purposely missing the head as she started to run. The hydra followed, and soon two more heads joined the first above ground. They slammed into buildings, sending debris down to the streets in their wake, and Helen wondered how much of this town's damage was really from bombing. Helen took a sharp turn, weaving into an alley that was much too narrow for the hydra to follow.

She was too unfamiliar with the town to have made a true maze, but she took whatever opportunities she found and prayed there were no dead ends. One snake head smashed through a stone wall and attempted to cut her off, but a glancing blow by her blade caused it to retreat. 

Helen was finally forced to leave her cover when she approached the church. She shouted Kate's name and saw her appear in the window of the bell tower. She hoped all was ready, as she heard the hydra approaching behind her in a wave of crushed buildings and shattered masonry. Helen leapt the old fence like an Olympic hurdler and landed awkwardly, crying out as her knee protested at the impact, but she couldn't stop running.

The rope was dangling against the west face of the building, and Helen wrapped her arm around it. "Now!" Helen shouted, turning to see the hydra crashing through the fence she had just jumped. She heard a scraping noise from above, and then the rope went taut, and Helen was lifted off the ground. She pressed her boots against the side of the church, running vertically as the rope hauled her up. She twisted sideways and opened fire as the hydra lunged at her with two separate heads. There were four heads now, two of them hanging back in case Helen managed to injure or kill one of the others.

When Helen reached the window of the belfry, she let herself roll over the sill and drop to the landing. The space was about fifty square feet, and completely empty. She rose into a crouch and ran to the opposite side of the belfry, turning to face the hydra as one of the heads lunged at her. Helen swung the sword out and caught the snake just below the jaw. The force of her blow killed the head, and also knocked it through a different window than it had come in. The hydra tried to retreat, but the lifeless head was caught on the sill.

Helen looked outside and saw the bell Kate had tied their rope to, the counterweight to Helen's ascent. Kate was nowhere to be seen, and Helen hoped her ride down had been as smooth as the ride up had been. Two more heads were now trying to find a way to enter the belfry without Helen attacking. One head lunged, and then all of the heads hissed in agony.

Helen couldn't see from her position, but she knew Kate was executing the next part of their plan. The chase through town had forced the hydra to expose its trunk. Kate was now using her machete to kill the heads at the base. One of the two heads tried to attack Helen in the belfry, but her sword sliced across its snout. The snake's mouth opened in a hiss that quickly faded into a death rattle as it impacted the side of the bell tower and slumped to the ground.

Helen, after making sure the rest of the heads were also out of commission, went to the window and peered down. Kate was standing next to the hydra's body, her sword dripping and her clothes splattered with the snake's blood. Helen smiled and raised her sword. "Hail, Heracles!"

Kate smiled and hoisted her sword in victory.

#

Thirteen hours after being picked up by Cryssa Stamakis and the team from the Athens Sanctuary, Helen and Kate were on a private jet on their way back home. Helen had gone to the cockpit to speak with the pilots, leaving Kate alone for the moment. She looked out the window as they flew over Italy; she'd never been. Maybe if Helen ever trusted her with another solo mission she could request Tuscany or someplace equally scenic. She remembered Helen mentioned something about a villa in Capri; maybe they could take vacation time together.

Helen returned at that moment, and Kate sat up straighter in her seat. "Hey. We got an ETA?"

"About twelve hours," Helen said as she took the seat that faced Kate's. "I thought we both needed the time to relax after what we'd gone through back there."

Kate winced. "So that's pretty much a whole day you'll be away from your little project in the library."

Helen shook her head. "It's good. It'll give me a chance to approach it with fresh eyes." She chewed her bottom lip for a moment and then looked at her hands, folding them in her lap. "Kate, I owe you a formal apology. I failed to do the proper research on the Abnormal before I agreed to send you on your own. Had I properly done my job, you'd have never been there alone. Had anything happened to you..."

"Nothing did," Kate said. "I've been in tighter scrapes than that."

Helen raised an eyebrow.

Kate chuckled. "Okay, maybe that's an exaggeration. The truth is I'm really glad you were there. I'm not used to someone having my back like that. It felt good."

"The Sanctuary is your home, Kate," Helen said. "And the people there are your family."

Kate looked down at her own hands, suddenly embarrassed. "Yeah. Guess so."

Helen rose and moved to the seat beside Kate. She covered Kate's hand with her own and said, "I won't let you down again. I promise you that."

Kate looked at Helen's hand on her own, looked into Helen's eyes, and took a chance. She leaned in and lightly brushed her lips against Helen's. It was barely a kiss, just a glancing contact, but it made her heart beat hard against her ribs as she leaned back in her seat and waited for the reaction. Helen turned in her seat so she was facing Kate better and closed the distance between them.

Kate kept her eyes open as Helen's hand slid around her neck, under her hair, to cup the back of her head. Helen kissed Kate with just enough pressure to make it an invitation, leaving it up to Kate whether things progressed past that point. She only held contact for a handful of seconds, five or six at the most, but Kate felt like minutes had passed before Helen pulled back slightly. She licked her lips, meeting Kate's gaze without embarrassment. "I take it you've wanted to do that for a while."

Instead of answering, Kate cupped Helen's face in her hands and pulled her back for another kiss. This time she closed her eyes, using the tip of her tongue to coax Helen's lips apart. Her tongue slipped into Helen's mouth, and she couldn't resist a moan of pleasure. She had only been with two women sexually, and neither was exactly out of love. It was a matter of playing a room, vying for power. It was different with Helen. Her hands slipped into Helen's hair, and Helen lightly massaged the back of Kate's neck.

When the kiss broke, Helen took a breath and released it with a sigh. She withdrew one hand, her fingers brushing Kate's neck and making her shiver. She touched Kate's temple and waited for her to break the silence. Kate opened her eyes and saw Helen looking at her, and she smiled. "Family, huh?" she said.

"Well," Helen whispered. "Perhaps not _exactly_ like a family." She kissed the corners of Kate's mouth and then pulled back. Kate's timidity grew in direct relation to how far away Helen was, and she looked nervously toward the window. She sucked her bottom lip into her mouth and ran her tongue along it, trying to think of what the next move would be. They had twelve more hours alone on the plane, twelve hours before they were back in the world of the Sanctuary. 

Kate looked at Helen again. "Is there a place on the plane where I can lay down?"

Helen smiled. "Of course." She took Kate's hand. "I'll show you."

#

Their lovemaking was slow, a learning experience for Kate. Helen tried to let her take control, but Kate refused; she wanted the benefit of Helen's knowledge for this exploration. She let Helen take off her clothes, tried not to shudder as her bare skin was kissed. She knew Helen had seen her naked before, but that didn't make her any less nervous as she stepped out of her underwear and lowered herself to the bed. When Helen undressed, Kate wanted to spend the rest of their flight time exploring her body; the smooth curve of her breast and the slight paunch of her belly, the gentle hills of her ribs. Helen's breasts felt perfect in Kate's palms, and their tongues grew acquainted with one another in a slow, casual dance.

Kate wasn't familiar with making love. She'd done it maybe twice in her life, with someone she truly cared about. Her experience was with games and power plays. She got pleasure out of it, sure, but there was something different about lying down and letting someone else take control. It was the definition of vulnerable, when Kate had spent the vast majority of her life trying to be as hardened as possible.

Helen brought Kate to orgasm twice, drawing tears the first time. When Kate finally returned the favor, they were well over the Atlantic Ocean. Kate saw it through the bedside window as she wrapped her legs around Helen's thigh and began thrusting. The sky above and the water below with only a hazy, barely visible line between them made her feel like they were the only objects in the universe. When Helen arched her back, baring her teeth with a shudder and a grunt, Kate could hardly believe it was because of what she was doing. But then Helen whispered her name, and Kate knew it was the truth.

They kissed, both of them sweaty and naked, their hands at rest after more than an hour of frantic exploration. Kate rested her head on Helen's chest, closing her eyes as Helen stroked her hair. She knew that what Helen had said was true. Faith, trust, security... that was what she gained when she came to the Sanctuary. The faith to be on her own, the trust that she was capable, and the security of knowing that someone had her back when she fell short. 

They might not be blood, and they might be dysfunctional as hell, but the people at the Sanctuary - Hank and William and Magnus and even Big Guy. They were her family. She let herself drift off to sleep with Helen's fingers still moving through her hair.


End file.
